War and Peace of Mind
by EdgeColumbus
Summary: The worlds only other male IS pilot starts his first year at the IS academy alongside Ichika. But this pilot has his secrets and plans. Will everything go his way? Or will unexpected variables interfere with his plans? Does it really matter so long as he doesn't get involved with any rabbits? (Chapters 2 and 3 currently undergoing rewrites.)
1. Chapter 1

**So, I have decided that before I take this story any further I am going to rewrite the first three chapters. I feel like my writing has improved significantly since I started this fic and I want to tweak a few details to fit the direction the story will go in. So please bare with me as I rework these chapters.**

 **And with that said, enjoy the new first chapter.**

* * *

Chapter 1: First Impressions

A young man climbed down from a ladder and dusted off his shirt with his hands before focusing on the work in front of him. A proud smile taking over his face as he wiped the sweat from his brow.

'So then, is it finished?' A calm voice inquired from within the young man's mind.

"Yep." The young man nodded. "It took two years, but my own personal IS is raring to go." He added as he went about putting his tools away and cleaning up his workshop a bit.

'Took ya long enough!' A second, arrogant voice boomed from within the young man's mind.

The boy placed his left index and middle fingers to the side of his head, close to his left eye, a stream of data regarding the machine in front of him popped up in view of his eye. More accurately, the screen appeared in his vision only, his eye acting as the monitor for the small window.

"It wouldn't have been possible without her data. I still don't understand why she let me look at it, this stuff is supposed to be top secret." The boy wondered aloud. "It's as if she completely forgot about the 'gifts' she gave me." He chuckled as he removed his fingers from the side of his head, dismissing the pop-up in his vision.

'Well that doesn't matter now.' The calm reminded the boy. 'What does matter is the four months of training you have ahead of you.'

'And then stage two can begin.' The arrogant voice chimed in.

"Yeah, yeah. We'll start training tomorrow." The boy responded dismissively as a yawn escaped from his mouth. He left the room and got an early nights rest to prepare for the months ahead of him.

* * *

'Oh well done! Late on your first day of school.' The arrogant voice mocked the boy that was currently sprinting down the hall.

'Can it!' The boy mentally yelled as he stopped outside of a classroom, hoping it was class one. The boy took the time to catch his breath and straighten his uniform before opening the door.

"Alright class. I'm your homeroom teacher Ms. Chifuyu Orimura, it's my job to train you well enough that you can stand on your own in one year." The teacher introduced herself.

'Alright, I'm not that late. Just gotta get to my seat.' The boy thought before noticing an empty seat at the front of the class.

And here he was, hoping he could have snuck to the back of the class. He was one step into the classroom before Chifuyu snapped her head in his direction to glare at him.

"And you, the latecomer. It takes a lot of guts or lack of a brain to be late to my class." The teacher scolded, bringing everyone's attention to the boy in the doorway.

The boy felt a chill run down his spine as he answered. "I'm very sorry about that. My alarm didn't go off so I ended up oversleeping and then I got lost." The boy chuckled nervously as he rubbed the back of his head.

"I didn't ask you for excuses and I don't care for them. Your punishment is to show him how to properly introduce yourself to a class." Chifuyu ordered as she pointed to a very familiar looking teen.

'I believe that is Ichika Orimura, he has appeared in several news articles recently since they found out he could pilot an IS' The calm voice informed the boy.

'Thanks Order.' The boy mentally thanked as he kept his eyes on the only other male IS pilot.

"Are you waiting for a written invitation?" Chifuyu asked the boy, her impatience coming through loud and clear. The boy jumped slightly as he focused back on the situation at hand.

"Right, sorry." Another nervous chuckle leaving his mouth as he stepped toward the front of the class and faced his peers. "Hello, it's nice to meet you all. I am Jack Moreau. I am half English and half French. Though I was born and raised here in Japan, Hokkaido specifically. I am fluent in all three languages and know some German as well since my family vacationed there once. Once again, it is a pleasure to meet you all." Jack gave a bow as he finished his introduction. "Any questions?"

One of the girls in the class raised her hand and called out her question without waiting for the go ahead.

"Why are your eyes different colours?" She called out.

"I'm heterochromatic and due to a rare medical condition, my eyes are unnatural colours." Jack explained as he pointed between his purple right eye and yellow left eye. "Anyone else?" He asked as his hand returned to his side.

"Is your hair colour natural?" Another girl called out.

Jack ran a hand through his messy, shoulder-length, wine red hair. "Yes it is. Though I don't really have an explanation for it." He admitted.

"Why are you wearing gloves?" Yet another girl called out.

Jack focused on the thin, black gloves he was wearing. Turning his hands over so his palms were facing upwards, they fit like... well like gloves. "These are what allow me to activate my personal IS." He answered, rousing a few murmurs from the class.

"Are you single?" A fourth girl asked.

Jack felt his face heat up as his cheeks reddened slightly. "Y-yes." He answered meekly as he fiddled with the collar of his school blazer. A loud "kyaaah" erupted from the majority of the girls in the class, which was the majority of the class since the school was technically an all-girls school.

"Alright, take your seat." Chifuyu ordered as she pointed to the open seat next to Ichika.

Jack took his seat and sighed as he calmed down, he could hear the girls whispering but opted to ignore them for the sake of sanity.

'That could have gone better. You should have exerted your dominance.' The arrogant voice told the boy.

'And look like a complete asshole? No thanks. I'd prefer it if I wasn't hated by everyone if that's okay with you, Chaos.' Jack replied.

'I still question your naming sense.' Order sighed.

'Oh shut up, I was ten.' Jack whined mentally as he remembered the day he named the two voices.

'I'm just saying-' Order began before Jack interrupted him.

'Just be quiet or I'm muting both of you. Two A.I. in my head and neither can be grateful that I even bothered to give them a name.' He ordered before mentally grumbling at the end.

Chifuyu slammed her hands down on the podium at the front of the classroom, catching everyone's attention and causing them to go silent.

"That's enough." Chifuyu demanded before going on to explain what the students would be doing during the year. "The next six months begin with memorising all data related to the IS. After that, practical training where you'll have two weeks to master the basic manoeuvres. So, have you got that? Even if you didn't, say yes ma'am."

"Yes ma'am!" The class replied.

The rest of the day proceeded at a slow pace, from the staring and whispers from the girls to the lessons covering the basics. Jack had his face down on his desk, tuning out the girls and running through what he had learnt up to this point.

'I am so bored.' Jack complained to the voices in his head.

'You knew what you were getting into when you applied for the academy. Besides, you need to learn all of this if you wish for the plan to succeed.' Order reminded the teen, being the voice of reason as he always was.

'Screw that, let's fight someone already.' Chaos spoke up, his aggressive side showing as it always did.

'I swear to god you two, if I didn't need you-' Jack's thought was interrupted when someone tapped on his left shoulder, he raised his head and looked to the left to find Ichika giving him a kind smile.

"Hey, I'm Ichika Orimura. It's nice to meet you Jack." Ichika greeted the boy sitting next to him.

"Likewise Ichika, it's nice to meet you too." Jack returned the greeting a smile that matched Ichika's.

"Thanks, I hope we can be friends. It would be nice to get along with the only other guy here." Ichika admitted as he rubbed the back of neck.

"Yeah, I hope we can come to be good friends too. We are outnumbered here after all, it would be nice to we have each other's backs at least." Jack agreed as he leaned forwards on his desk.

A girl with brown hair tied back in a long ponytail walked over to Ichika's desk and glared at him.

"Can we talk in the hallway for a minute?" She asked Ichika.

"Eh?" Was Ichika's response before looking over at Jack.

"Go on." Jack urged as he gestured to the girl. "I can fend for myself for a bit." He watched as Ichika and the girl left the classroom, not failing to notice some of the girls that were peering in from the doorway follow after them. "Unbelievable. You'd think these girls have never seen a guy before." The boy whispered to himself as he relaxed in his chair and looked up at the ceiling.

'In their defence, most of them have likely been training for a while to prepare for enrolment. Besides, there's a difference between normal boys at regular schools and two male IS pilots at the IS Academy.' Order defended on behalf of the girls.

'I see your point, but do they have to stalk us?' Jack retorted.

'I wouldn't say this constitutes as stalking. Besides, it's better to the alternatives. They could have completely shunned you or be physically clinging to you.' Came Order's rebuttal.

'Yap, yap, yap. Can we get to the fightin' already.' Chaos butted in with a bored tone and a yawn.

'Is that all you care about?' Order sighed, bringing Chaos's priorities into question.

'No.' Chaos stated defensively. 'I care about the plan, which is why I want to start collecting data as soon as possible.' The A.I. informed what was essentially its twin.

'It'll take a while to collect everything we need and I don't want to take any unnecessary risks by recklessly challenging everyone to fight me. We're gonna take things slow, keep up the facade of a somewhat regular teenager.' Jack explained to Chaos. 'But when we do start collecting data, it would be a good idea start with those with personal IS'. Agreed?'

'Agreed.' The A.I.'s would have nodded if they could have.

Jack lowered his head and closed his eyes to take a quick nap before the next class.

* * *

"Okay. Does anyone have any questions so far?" Ms. Yamada asked the class as she stood at the teacher's podium. "How about you, Orimura? Do you have any questions?" She inquired as she leant over the podium.

"Well... Uh..." Ichika took a second to think since he wasn't expecting the question.

"If you do have any questions, ask away." Ms. Yamada beamed at the boy in front of her.

"Ms. Yamada." Ichika squeaked out as he slowly raised his hand.

"Yes? Don't be shy." Ms. Yamada encouraged the teen.

"I don't understand any of this." Ichika admitted defeatedly.

"What? Not any of it? Is there anyone else who doesn't understand what we've covered so far?" Ms. Yamada asked the class. The question was met with a deafening silence. Until Jack's hand quietly made its way above his head.

"I... I don't really understand it either." He admitted shyly with an embarrassed blush on his face. In truth, he did understand some of the material they had covered, but the rest had gone over his head.

It was at this point that Chifuyu decided to step in to deal with the situation.

"Did neither of you read the reference manual before school started?" She asked, her glare shifting from her brother to the other male pilot and back.

"Are you talking about that big book?" Ichika questioned in response.

"That's right, didn't it say required reading?" Chifuyu asked her brother sarcastically.

"Yeah, but I accidentally threw it away." Ichika answered honestly, only to be smacked with the class roster.

Jack wanted to laugh to but held back out of consideration and because Chifuyu's glare silenced him before he had a chance, thee male pilot broke out into a cold sweat from the look in the teacher's eyes.

"And what about you, Moreau?" Chifuyu asked as she rested the class roster on her shoulder.

"I read some of it." Jack began in his own defence. "But I spilled coffee on it and it became unreadable so I... ah... threw it out..." The teen's voice became more and more like a whisper as he continued to speak, mostly because he realised how this was going to end for him. Though, instead of getting smacked with the class roster, it was slammed onto the top of his head. Which caused his jaw to smash into his desk from the force of the blow.

'Is she even legally allowed to do this?' Jack mentally inquired to the two A.I.'s.

'Do you really think she'll let you live to complain about it?' Chaos asked in response, Jack's silence answered the question.

"I'll get you both new copies, make sure you have them memorised by the end of the week." Chifuyu ordered.

"A week!?" The two male IS pilots asked in unison, shocked by ridiculous order.

"Did I stutter?" Chifuyu asked rhetorically as she hardened her gaze on the two boys, they shook their heads and gave the response she wanted to her order.

"Yes, ma'am."

* * *

After class ended, the second recess of the day began.

"May I have a word with you two?" A blonde girl requested as she approached Jack and Ichika's desks, Ichika responding with a 'hmm' while Jack stifled a very obvious yawn. The girl gasped in shock at the reception, going as far as placing her hand to her chest dramatically.

"What kind of a response is that, you both should be honoured that I am bothering to speak to you in the first place. Don't you think you should behave in a more appropriate manner?" The girl asked haughtily, Jack's eye twitched slightly at the tone of her voice.

"Look, I'm sorry but I don't even know who you are." Ichika admitted to the girl.

"You don't know who I am? I am-"

"Cecilia Alcott, IS representative candidate from England." Jack interrupted. "Daughter of a noble British family and pilot of the Blue Tears." The boy explained. "Was that a satisfactory introduction?" He asked Cecilia as he finally turned to face her.

"Quite. I'm glad one of you isn't completely devoid of knowledge." Cecilia nodded to the boy.

"Wait, she's an IS representative candidate? What does that mean?" Ichika asked in confusion, causing everyone in the class to fall over from the shock.

"It means..." Jack began his explanation with a sigh as he picked himself up. "...That she has been chosen by England to potentially represent them and their pilots, it's an honour typically given to those who are highly skilled." The teen concluded, sighing when he noticed the still confused look on Ichika's face. "Basically, she's strong." He summarised.

"Oh! When you put it like that it makes sense." Ichika nodded to the other male pilot.

"That's right! I am one of the elite. It is a true miracle and your good fortune to get to be in the same class as someone of my prestige. Oh, what incredibly lucky boys you are." Cecilia went over the top with the dramatics in her response, Jack facepalmed as a result.

"Oh yes, truly, we are so very lucky." The wine haired pilot said in a tone dripping with sarcasm.

"Wait, are you making fun of me?" Cecilia questioned the boy, who simply grinned in response.

"One such as I making fun of an IS representative candidate, good heavens no! I mean, a commoner such as myself making fun of you could besmirch your good name. Oh the horrors I would face if I did such a thing." Jack theatrically placed the back of one of his hands to his head as the palm of the other went to his chest. A few silent seconds passed before he spoke again.

"Sorry, that was a bit much wasn't it? We are genuinely lucky to have an IS representative candidate in our class, I hope to learn a lot from you." Jack apologised with a bow before smiling at the representative candidate.

"Well, since I am so incredibly remarkable I can find it in my heart to forgive you. I did defeat an instructor during the entrance exam, so I am an elite amongst the elites." Cecilia haughtily accepted the apology.

"Uhm... I defeated an instructor too." Ichika interjected.

"What?" Cecilia gasped in shock.

"Well, I suppose it wasn't really defeat so much as it was me dodging and the instructor going 'kaboom' when she crashed into the wall." The black haired pilot elaborated.

"But, I heard I was the only one." Cecilia protested, her voice sounded slightly panicked at this point.

"They probably meant the only girl." Jack pointed out with an innocent smile.

"Don't tell me you defeated an instructor too." The blonde pilot whined.

"It came down to the wire, but yeah." Jack nodded. This only infuriated Cecilia, who was fuming at this point.

"Hey now, just calm down okay." Ichika said with some hope that it would work.

"Life lesson Ichika, never tell a woman to calm down." Jack sighed as he braced himself for whatever was coming next.

"How can I stay calm after this insult!?" Cecilia exclaimed towards Ichika. Luckily, the guys, mainly Ichika were saved by the bell. "We will be continuing this conversation later. Understood?" The representative candidate declared before leaving.

The two male pilots looked at each other, Jack being the first of the two to say anything.

"Well she was nice." He joked.

* * *

"Ten-fifteen, room ten-fifteen... Ah! Here we go." Jack muttered to himself as he finally found his room, he froze as he placed his hand on the door handle. 'So... Who wants to bet that I have a female roommate who just got out the shower and will hit me for walking in?' He asked the two A.I., knowing they'd bet amongst themselves even if he didn't mention it.

'I do.' Order and Chaos answered, perfectly in sync with each other.

"Here goes nothing." Jack mumbled as he slowly opened the door and walked inside. "Hello?" The boy called out. There was no response. "Alright, so either my roommate hasn't arrived or I don't have one. Let's hope it's the latter." He determined as he surveyed the room.

'Considering you probably applied later than most other students, the rooms were likely allocated before your application was accepted. It's highly probable that this room is yours alone.' Order deduced.

'Well, that'll make things easier for us then. A roommate would just be a nuisance.' Chaos scoffed.

"Yeah, but I'll be lonely." Jack admitted with a shrug.

'Whaddya mean? You got us don't ya?' Chaos reminded the teenage pilot.

"Forgive for not finding the two A.I. in my head as a permanent replacement for human contact." Jack sighed as he rubbed his forehead.

'Sorry for not being whole.' Chaos shot back with an irate tone.

'It's not our fault we were torn in two upon implementation.' Order defended.

"I wasn't referencing that and I don't blame you two for it, I just meant... Never mind." Jack shook his head as he sat down on one of the two beds in the room; it was the one closer to the balcony. "Two beds with bedside tables, two closets, some shelves, a computer and a TV. It's kind of like an apartment." The boy thought aloud.

'You forgot the bathroom that only contains a shower.' Order pointed out.

"The explains the toilets at the end of the hall." Jack nodded to himself before coming to a realisation. "Wait... Where am I gonna go!?" He shouted as he panicked.

'I saw plenty of bushes outside.' Chaos suggested in an amused tone.

"No." Jack flat out refused, he was repulsed by the idea. Sighing, the boy got up and opened the closet closest to his bed, he was pleasantly surprised to find his clothes already hung up. Picking out a pair of pyjamas that consisted of a pair of shorts and a short sleeved t-shirt he set them down on the bed, ready to change into once he had a shower.

After taking a shower and getting changed, Jack was laying on his bed watching TV. He occasionally flicked between the channels to see if there was any more interesting than what he had been watching on. Sometime later he decided it was time to get some sleep for the next day.

"System operation: strain relief." Jack told himself, feeling his right arm and both of his legs become lighter soon after. "Wish I didn't have to do this every night." He muttered as he crawled into his bed.

'Well, you don't necessarily have to; you just run the risk of your arm and legs freezing up during the day.' Order reminded the boy.

"Right, and I really don't want to deal with the problems that'd bring." Jack yawned as his eyes closed. It didn't take long for him to fall asleep.

* * *

"Are you still mad at me?" Ichika asked the ponytailed girl from the day before.

"I'm not mad at you." She replied as she continued eating her breakfast, Ichika gave her a frown.

"Then why are you still wearing the mad face?" He questioned.

"Get used to it." The girl told him harshly.

"Well you two are good friends, huh?" Jack chuckled at the display in front of him.

"Is that what it looks like?" The asked him coldly. Breakfast was going rather quietly, barring the whispers from most of the girls.

"Hey Houki do you think-" Ichika began to ask.

"Don't use my first name!" Houki practically screamed at him as she slammed her fists down on the table. Jack inched up the table a bit, so he was sitting across from Ichika instead of the girl he was slowly becoming scared of.

"Ms. Shinonono." Ichika corrected himself.

Jack flinched at the mention of that name, he began shivering as a few memories came to mind.

"Jack? Are you okay?" Ichika inquired when he noticed the behaviour from the boy across from him.

"Just fine, Ichika. Just fine." Jack smiled awkwardly. 'This is just a coincidence right?' He asked the two A.I. desperately.

'Don't kid yourself.' Chaos spat, a low growl coming from him shortly afterwards.

'To think that one of your classmates is her sister, at least this one seems more down to Earth.' Order looked on the bright side of things, but even he couldn't repress a sigh at the thought of the other Shinonono.

'Yeah, I don't I could handle another damned rabbit.' Jack admitted. As he focused back on the conversation, he noticed three new faces at the table. The three girls were asking Ichika questions, though Jack couldn't get passed the fact that one of them was wearing a fox onesie.

'Alright. What'd I miss?' Jack thought to himself.

"I think I'll excuse myself now." Houki dismissed herself as she stood up and walked off.

"Okay then, I'll see you later." Ichika called out to the retreating girl.

"So, I hear you and Shinonono are good friends." One of the girls mentioned.

"Well, we are childhood friends." Ichika admitted.

"Huh!?" The trio of girls and Jack exclaimed. "The two of you are childhood friends?" The girls asked.

"Yeah, we started going to the same kendo dojo. We were in class together until the fourth grade... but I don't remember much of it anymore. About the past." Ichika explained, he seemed pained thinking about it.

The sound of clapping caught everyone's attention. Searching for the origin of the sound, Jack noticed Chifuyu standing near the entrance of the cafeteria.

"Less talking and more chewing, pilots have to eat quickly and efficiently. I'm the freshmen dorm supervisor and anyone who's late to class will be doing to ten laps around the school." The older Orimura threatened.

Jack scoffed down the remainder of his meal like his life depended on it and dashed off to class.

* * *

"Two weeks from yesterday you will be asked to choose your representative for the class tournament. A class representative not only participates in the tournament, but also attends student council meetings and committee meetings. Essentially it's your class leader okay." Chifuyu explained from behind the teacher's podium. "I will now take nominations. Any suggestions?" She asked the class.

"I'd like to nominate Orimura!" One of the girls called out.

"Dude, I think that's a great idea." Another girl agreed.

'Good luck Ichika.' Jack mentally prayed.

"I want to nominate Moreau!" A third girl called out.

"Me too." Yet another girl seconded.

Jack was initially caught off-guard by the nomination but quickly composed himself.

"I object!" He yelled as he slammed his hands on his desk and stood up.

"Yeah, what if neither of us want to do this?" Ichika asked as he stood up too.

"I do not approve of this!" Cecilia exclaimed as she stood up from her desk as well. "This type of selection is absolutely unacceptable. It would be shameful to have a boy as our class representative." The blonde pilot stated, irking the boys in question. "You can't possibly think that I, Cecilia Alcott, should have to deal with this sort of humiliation for a whole year. In the first place, simply living in a country with such an underdeveloped level of culture is unbearably painful to someone such as myself, oh the agony." The representative candidate ranted, pushing the male IS pilots over the edge in the process. Jack was the first of the two to speak up.

"Well it's not like England's that much better! Our food isn't great and we don't have any original exports." He mocked.

"Yeah, how often has England won the worst cuisine award?" Ichika joined in.

"We English have many delicious dishes. I can't believe you would have the audacity to insult my country!" Cecilia argued with the two boys, the rest of the class, teachers included, watching on in silence.

"Hey, it's my country too and I still insulted it." Jack pointed out, earning a glare from the blonde.

"You said it yourself yesterday did you not? That you were born and raised in Japan." Cecilia reminded the boy.

"I still had to eat English dishes growing up. In a French-English household, might I add?" The wine haired pilot countered.

Cecilia was at her boiling point now.

"This calls for a duel!" She declared as she pointed to the two male pilots.

"Fine by me." Ichika accepted.

"Bring it on." Jack smiled confidently as he accepted.

"And if either of you lose on purpose I will make you my servant, no I shall make you my slave." Cecilia stated.

"How much of a handicap?" Ichika asked Cecilia, earning him the stares of everyone in the classroom.

"Oh? Are you asking me for a favour already?" The blonde pilot questioned as she raised a brow to Ichika's question.

"No. I mean how much of a handicap should I give you." The black haired pilot explained, causing all the girls in the class, minus Houki and the teachers, to laugh at him and earning a sigh from Jack. Which Ichika was confused by.

"Ichika... Have you forgotten that women are considered more powerful than men due to the implementation of the IS?" Jack asked his fellow pilot with a concerned look. "Even with the two of us here, the shift in power doesn't change." He added for clarity's sake.

"Oh, damn. That's right!" The realisation struck Ichika like a bolt of lightning.

"If anything, it should be me asking if you two want a handicap." Cecilia began laughing, obviously amused by Ichika's lack of knowledge. "Japanese boys are so humorous aren't they?" She asked the rest of the girls in the room rhetorically.

"You're just in denial about me being anything other than Japanese, huh?" Jack sighed as he shook his head at the girl.

"Hey, if you two ask really nicely. A real lady might still give you that handicap." One of the girls told the male pilots.

"Yeah, well a real man doesn't go back on his word. I'll pass." Ichika responded, adopting a serious look on his face.

"I don't know about that 'real man' stuff, but my answer's the same. Pass." Jack stated with a smile on his face.

"You're both underestimating her." The same girl warned the boys.

"It sounds like it's been settled then. The duel will be staged in arena three, which I believe is available on Monday. Orimura, Moreau and Alcott, I expect you to come fully prepared for combat." Chifuyu announced.

The three contenders stared at each other before returning to their seats to continue the day.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Icarus

 **A few days later:**

"So he got his personal IS just in time huh?" Jack asked himself shortly after the announcement of Ichika's personal IS arriving, he adjusted his black, full body pilot suit.

'So it would seem.' Order commented.

Chaos took the opportunity to chime in. 'Now we can collect data from two personal units at once.'

"It'll be up to you two to collect the data, I have to focus on the fight." Jack reminded.

"Moreau. What are you waiting for? Alcott and Orimura are already in the arena. Get going." Chifuyu ordered over the intercom.

"Alright, Alright." Jack waved dismissively. "Time to show off what the unofficial four hundred and sixty eighth IS unit and core can do." He smiled as he took up a running stance.

'Good luck.' The A.I.'s wished.

Jack smiled. "Here we go." He took off running, when he reached the ledge of the hangar he jumped into a freefall. The spectators gasped as they witnessed the sight, Jack let out a deep breath. "Come to me. Icarus!" Jack yelled as he was enveloped by light, a few seconds later Jack flew to a height between Ichika and Cecilia. Jack's IS was white, black and gold, there were a set of wing shaped thrusters resting behind the main body. White and black gauntlets with golden claws encased Jack's hands, similarly coloured armour protected the boys legs. The Icarus' armour was weaker than most IS's and this fact meant its shields maxed out a two hundred, but what it lacked in defence it made up for in manoeuvrability. Jack's headpiece was a visor that protected his eyes. He readied his weapons, two smg's with bayonets attached.

"I apologise for showing off, I just couldn't help myself." Jack apologised with a shrug and a confident smile. "So, shall we begin?"

"Are you sure?" Cecilia asked. "It's obvious to everyone that I'm going to win, so if the two of you apologise right now I just might forgive you."

"In your dreams." Jack snarkily replied, Ichika nodded in agreement.

Cecilia smiled. "Very well, now then." She raised her sniper rifle and shot at Ichika, the shot collided and sent the male pilot towards the ground. He managed to recover before crashing.

Jack took this as a chance to attack Cecilia, he charged at her and began firing his smg's. Only a few rounds connected before the female pilot flew off, Jack remained in pursuit. Cecilia continued to take shots at Ichika while avoiding the other male pilot's onslaught.

"Hey now, keep aiming at him and I'm gonna feel neglected." The wine haired teen joked as he relented in his assault and made some distance between himself and the British pilot. That almost ended up being a big mistake as Cecilia then began firing at him, Jack very narrowly avoided the first shot and began flying in an erratic pattern. 'It seems Miss Alcott has a bad habit on focusing on one opponent at a time, she's at a disadvantage.'

"Now you will dance for me, that's right. Dance to the waltz that Cecilia Alcott and Blue Tears are playing." Cecilia commanded confidently.

Jack smiled as he increased the distance between himself and Cecilia more and more. 'Hurry up and get your act together Ichika, she'll catch on to my idea eventually.' And as if he had read Jack's thoughts, Ichika landed a hit on Cecilia's back. The blow sent the Brit forward, not by much but just enough so that she was in range of Jack's guns. Jack took a few shots as he attempted to get in close, Ichika also tried to close the distance between himself and Cecilia. The two didn't get very far before they were both shot down, the shots had come from two of four turrets that had to have been deployed by Blue Tears.

"My, my. Did you two really think it would be that easy?" Cecilia asked cockily.

"Crap, shoulda known she'd have more than one trick." Jack groaned as he checked his shield. One hundred and fifty, she'd managed take off a clean fifty of Icarus' shield. Jack turned to his fellow male IS pilot. "Hey, Ichika. How about a temporary truce while we deal with Alcott?"

"Deal." Ichika agreed. The two took off and flew in separate directions, they were followed by two turrets each. Ichika sliced through one of the two turrets following him. "Well now I get it. Your weapons won't move without your command, that's the trick. And there's more than that, you can't make any other attacks while you're in motion." He explained.

'Whichever one of you's working on the Blue Tears data, you got all that right?' Jack asked his A.I. as he stabbed through one of the turrets following him.

'Got it.' Order confirmed.

"That's because you're focused solely on defence right?" Ichika asked Cecilia before charging at her.

Jack shot down the other turret that had been following him. "Ichika, stop!"

Cecilia smiled. "I see you fell for it. So sorry, there are more than four." She deployed two cannons from her waist, both cannons fired missiles at Ichika.

"Oh, crap!" The male pilot exclaimed as he attempted to evade the missiles, unluckily they were tracking him and inevitably caught up.

 **BOOM**

"Ichika!" Jack shouted, a worried expression took to his face. 'Damn it, this isn't looking good for us.'

The smoke slowly cleared from the area of the explosion, Ichika was still flying. Surprisingly, the Byakushiki had changed. The once gray armour was now white and blue, all the armour had become bulkier.

"Is that his first shift?" Jack enquired, stupefied by what had just happened.

"What? How could anyone last this long with their IS in the default setting?" Cecilia asked in response.

"I'm not sure what the heck I've been doing, but it looks like this IS has finally become my own." Ichika stated, a display about his sword popped up in front of him. "The Yukihira Nigata? Isn't the Yukihira the same weapon Chifuyu used?" He asked himself. "Man, I really do have the best big sister in the entire world." The Yukihira opened up and a blade made of energy formed. "But I think it's about time to change the relationship from where I'm the one who always has to be protected. From now on, I'm going to be protecting as well."

"Just what are you talking about?" Cecilia questioned.

Ichika answered with a determined look in his eyes. "I'm saying I will defend my sister's name. It'll make her look lame if her brother's a candy ass weakling."

Jack smiled at his friend's motivation. "Alright then, if you're gonna get serious... then so will I!" Jack smiled confidently. "Icarus, first shift." The pilot ordered, the IS complied and the wings on its back split downward into more wings. Small wings emerged from the right and left sides of the respective gauntlets and the back of the leg armour.

Cecilia gawked at the sight. "You were also using the default settings?"

"Well I had to make sure the fight didn't end too quickly." Jack admitted.

"Honestly, you're such a pain!" Ceccilia yelled as she fired rockets at Jack.

"The same trick won't work twice." The male pilot stated as he shot down the rockets, Ichika took this chance to charge at the female pilot.

"I can do this!" Ichika shouted. The male pilot swung at Cecilia, only to have Jack parry the attack and kick him to the ground.

A horn sounded and an autonomous voice made an announcement. "Ichika Orimura's shields have reached zero, he is to withdraw from the match." A collective gasped occurred after the announcement.

"Sorry, Ichika. No hard feelings, but I want to win." Jack called out as Ichika left the duelling grounds. "So, shall we dance?" Jack asked Cecilia as he raised his smg's, Cecilia flew off to gain distance. The Icarus stayed right behind her the entire time, Jack pulled the triggers and began his second onslaught. 'I need to finish this quick, my shields already at seventy-five.'

Cecilia managed to avoid most of the shots, but there were too many that connected for her liking. She did a one eighty and readied her sniper rifle, but Jack had disappeared. By the time the female pilot noticed the shadow above her it was too late. The remaining male pilot charged at her from above and slashed at her once with each gun, he then launched himself off of the Brits IS and rained shots down on her. The rain of bullets stopped as the Icarus charged towards Blue Tears. Cecilia aimed her rifle at the pilot, Jack grabbed the barrel of the gun and pointed it past his IS.

"Sorry, the match was fun, but it's about time we finished up." Jack smiled warmly as he pulled his arm back, the bayonet of the smg collided with the Blue Tears shield and pushed the IS back as Jack let go of the sniper rifles barrel.

There was an alarm identical to the one from earlier. "The match is concluded. Winner, Jack Moreau." The autonomous voice announced. There was a collective silence followed by cheering from the spectators as the winner smiled up at the sky.

* * *

As Jack flew back into the hangar he had entered the field from, he noticed Chifuyu standing at the back. The male pilot deactivated his IS and jogged towards the teacher.

"Need something?" Jack asked. Chifuyu stepped forward and stared the boy in the eyes; Jack took a step back out of fear.

"Well done." Chifuyu congratulated, a look of confusion took to Jack's face.

"Huh? That's it? For a second there I thought you were going to scold me for winning." The heterochromatic boy sighed in relief.

"I am here to do more than congratulate you on your victory." The teacher informed him, a bit of the earlier fear came backand likely showed on his face. "I want to ask you about your IS." Chifuyu stated.

'Crap, has she figured something out?' Jack worriedly asked his A.I. companions.

'The probability of that is extremely low." Order pointed out.

'Be careful with how you answer though, she'd definitely pick up on the smallest hint of something being off.' Chaos warned.

"What do you wanna know?"

"Why is your IS focused on speed?" Chifuyu asked bluntly.

"Cause I wanted it to be. Icarus has less armour than a standard IS, but this grants it more speed. A flaw with this is that its shields max out at two hundred instead of the usual six hundred." Jack answered truthfully.

"So your IS has a third of a standard IS shield?" Chifuyu questioned. "That's absurd, in a real fight you could be the first to die with that low a shield."

"Why do you think Icarus is optimised for speed and manoeuvrability?"

"So what you lack in terms of proper defence is supposed to be made up for by the ability to outmanoeuvre your opponents?" The stern teacher asked.

"Yes, that's the general idea. If it wasn't for the increased speed I probably would have lost the duel, I might've even been the first one out." Jack admitted.

"You're a fool." Chifuyu sighed.

"Yep." The teen replied with cheeky smile.

"Get changed and go rest." Chifuyu ordered.

"Yes ma'am." Jack replied with a mock salute.

* * *

"So you'll be the class representative huh?" Ichika asked Jack, the two male pilots were walking back to the dorms with Houki.

"Yeah, honestly I might see if I can pass it to you or Alcott." Jack sighed.

"Why?" The first male pilot questioned.

"Because the position sounds like too much work, I only tried to win the fight because I wanted to show off." The second male pilot admitted. "I need to fix that habit." He sighed.

Houki looked over at Ichika. "So, I guess starting tomorrow maybe we oughta start some intensive IS training?" The trio stopped walking at this point.

"Yeah, I guess." Ichika replied.

"You still... You do want me to continue teaching you right?" Houki asked.

"Of course I do. I'd rather ask you than any other girl. I mean... you're Tabane's sister, who else would know as much?" The black haired teen answered nervously, Jack whistled as he left the two behind.

'Get a room.' Chaos commented.

* * *

Once he got back to his room, Jack sat down at the computer and opened his E-mail.

'What are you doing?' Order enquired.

"Sending an E-mail to Ms. Orimura. I'm gonna give her the basic data on Icarus, just so that I can avoid any questions later."

Chaos joined in the conversation at this point. 'Unless you use 'that', but I doubt anything drastic enough to require it will happen.'

"Which is why I'm sending the basic data and nothing more." The male pilot reminded the A.I.

* * *

 **The next day:**

"For today's lesson we're going to practice the basic controls of the IS." Chifuyu stated. "Orimura, Alcott, Moreau, you're up first."

Cecilia spoke up instantly. "Not a problem." She activated Blue Tears and hovered above the ground.

"Ugh, fine." Jack groaned as he activated Icarus, like Cecilia he hovered above the ground.

Ichika attempted to activate his Byakushiki, but to no avail. "What's the matter with this darn thing?"

"Move it Orimura, any experienced IS pilot should take less than a second to deploy." Chifuyu ordered.

Ichika let out a sigh before trying again. "Just focus, engage Byakushiki." The Byakushiki materialised around the male pilot. "Hey, it worked."

"Good, now fly!" Chifuyu commanded.

"Right!" Cecilia and Jack replied as they took off.

"Right. Up, up and- uwahh ahhh!" Ichika screamed as his take off didn't go as smoothly as the others.

Once in the air, the three pilots began flying around the training grounds. Jack had slowed down to fly next to Ichika, Cecilia was a significant distance ahead of them.

"You're too slow. According to the output specs, the Byakushiki is superior to her IS." The stern teacher informed.

"That may technically be true, but right now I'm focusing my imagination on deploying the pyramid part forward okay?" Ichika responded. "Oh, man. I'm just not getting any of this at all."

"Don't worry so much, you just have to take your time with getting used to the controls and techniques." Jack comforted his fellow male pilot.

Chifuyu cut into the conversation at this point. "Speaking of taking your time, the Icarus should have lapped Blue Tears and Byakushiki twice already." Jack let out a nervous laugh. "If you don't hurry up, I'll make you run laps-" Chifuyu was cut off as the Icarus' jets roared to life, the speed based IS blew past Byakushiki and Blue Tears. The IS's pilot had a scared expression on his face as he flew past Cecilia for the second time, he did one more lap before slowing down next to Cecilia.

"Satisfied?" Jack panted.

"That'll do for now." The teacher confirmed.

"I must say, your speed is very impressive." Cecilia complimented.

Jack remained quiet as he looked at the female pilot with a dubious expression. 'Does she want something from me?'

'I believe she is genuinely complementing you.' Order pointed out.

Jack gave a small smile. "Thank you. In all honesty, if wasn't for Icarus' speed I probably would have been the first to lose our duel."

"My, you are quite modest aren't you?"

"I'm being serious. If I hadn't had the speed to quickly close the distance between us, you would've beaten me." Jack admitted earnestly.

Cecilia let out a small laugh. "I'm glad you have such confidence in my abilities."

'Sounds like your getting quite comfortable, Jack." Chaos growled.

'Let him be. He needs to get close to people if he wants more chances at obtaining data, right?' Order defended.

Chaos sighed. 'Fine, so long as he doesn't forget that.'

'I won't forget, you know me. Have a little faith.' Jack reassured.

"Orimura, Alcott, Moreau, execute a power dive and then come to a complete stop."Chifuyu ordered.

"Roger that. Well, ladies first." Cecilia dived towards the ground and moved her body around so that she landed cleanly.

"All right then Ichika, emulate that." Jack instructed as he pointed to Cecilia with his thumb.

"Do you think you could give me a second example?" Ichika asked.

"Alright, watch carefully." The wine haired pilot sighed before perfectly emulating what Cecilia did. "Do have an idea of-" Jack began before being cut off by the other male pilots yelling.

"Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap!" The Byakushiki collided with Icarus, the crash resulted in a huge dust cloud and both male pilots in a crater. There was a collective gasp from all students present.

"Ichika!" Houki yelled as she ran toward the crater.

"Orimura, Moreau!" Ms. Yamada wasn't too far behind Houki, Chifuyu just strolled up to the crater.

The male pilots respective IS' deactivated. Ichika was face down in the dirt and Jack was sprawled out on his back. "Oh man, I seriously thought I was gonna die." Ichika moaned as he pulled his head out of the ground.

"Oh, don't worry. You're gonna die." Jack stated as he sat up, he had a very annoyed look on his face. There was a sigh of relief from the Ms. Yamada and the students.

"You morons, do you have any idea how much it costs to fill in a hole this size?" Chifuyu enquired.

"That's what you care about?!" The wine haired pilot yelled.

"Sorry about that." Ichika apologised as he moved into a sitting position.

"That was pitiful Ichika, you still haven't mastered a single thing that I've-" Houki began scolding Ichika, before she pushed out of the way by Cecilia.

The British pilot slid down the side of the crater and ran over to half English pilot. She bent over in front of him, her face a bit too close and... other parts a bit provoking.

'Eyes up Jack, eyes up Jack, eyes up Jack...' Jack repeated mentally as a light blush took to his face.

"Goodness, are you alright Jack dear? Have you been injured?" Cecilia asked with a concerned expression.

"I'm perfectly fine... wait, 'Jack dear'?" The male pilot questioned.

"I'm so glad to hear you say that. Still, I do think it would be best for you to get checked out thoroughly at the nurse's office. In fact I'll even go with you." The female pilot insisted.

'The nurse's office!' Jack panicked, he looked at his arm and legs. "No! That's okay I... uh... uhm..." The pilot couldn't seem to find an excuse, he was too worried about might be about to happen.

"Not necessary, it's impossible for anyone to get injured while piloting an IS." Houki reminded as she walked over.

'Thank you Shinonono.' Jack mentally sighed.

Cecilia seemed annoyed at that fact being pointed out. "Oh, Ms. Shinonono. Please understand that it's only natural for me to care about others."

"Oh, yeah. Because your bosom overflows with human kindness." The ponytailed girl mocked.

"Yes, it does. And it's so much more pleasant than scowling like a troll." The British pilot retorted, the two girls scowled at each other.

'What have we gotten into?" Jack asked the pair of A.I. as he let himself fall backward.

* * *

 **A few hours later:**

"Moreau, congratulations on your inauguration as class rep." A girl congratulated as she and a few others sounded off some party poppers, the rest of the class applauded.

"So what happened to passing the position?" Ichika asked.

"Your sister had other plans." Jack answered.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that your sister hit me with the class roster and started lecturing me on why the position is a good learning experience, and how I should take the opportunity to learn some responsibility, and something about paying attention for once." The class rep explained. "I may have blanked out at some parts." He admitted.

Ichika chuckled awkwardly. "I see..."

The guys were drawn from their conversation as a white light flashed at them. "Hello there, I'm from the newspaper club. Could I get a shot of the only two male IS pilots?" The pilots in question looked at each other and shrugged, they stood up and shook hands while smiling at the camera. "Great, now then. Could I shot of the class representative and the English representative?" Jack turned around and repeated the prior process with Cecilia. Although, just as the camera flashed the other girls and Ichika worked their way into the shot, Houki somehow made it between Jack and Cecilia.

"Why are all of you in my picture?" Cecilia exclaimed.

"Woah, calm down." One of the girls said.

"We can't let you get ahead of us all by yourself." Another girl chimed in. Ichika laughed nervously.

"I don't see why your laughing. And how did you get into the shot?" The wine haired teen asked his friend.

Ichika replied while scratching his cheek. "I think I was pushed."

"Alright, makes sense." Jack sighed. "And what about you Houki? You were on Ichika's left, how did you get between me and Cecilia?"

"Honestly, I don't know." Houki replied.

Jack let out a small laugh. "That about sums up my thoughts since the first day."


	3. Chapter 3

**So this took a while... I may have taken a break from writing halfway through and focused on some other stories. But it's good to be back with this story, hopefully you're all enjoying it. Anyway, I'll let you get to reading now.**

* * *

Chapter 3: Can't Catch a Break

Brown hair done up in twintails, emerald green eyes and about half his height, that would be Jack's description of the girl currently scowling at him.

"Can I help you?" Jack asked with an indifferent expression.

"Duel me!" The girl exclaimed.

"No."

The twintailed girl was taken aback by the immediate answer. "What? Why?"

"I'm busy." Jack half-assed the answer, he was lying.

"I don't care, duel me!" The girl persisted.

'Guys...' The teen groaned internally.

'Just accept, we can collect some data.' Chaos pushed.

Jack vocally groaned at the suggestion. Of course Chaos would give that answer and since Order was working on a task Jack gave him, he couldn't answer. The teen knew the girl was still yelling at him, he was blocking her out and facing the other direction, but he could tell. He decided to get his class rep duties out of the way; he started collecting in forms that had been passed out at the beginning of the week.

'You can't ignore her forever.' Chaos pointed out; there was an amused tone to his voice.

Jack challenged that thought. 'Watch me.' He collected in the last form from the present students, there were three missing. 'Ichika, Houki and Cecilia aren't here yet, I'll place the collected ones on the podium.' Jack walked up to the teacher's podium and gently put the forms down, as he did Houki walked in. "Ah, Houki. Have you filled out the form that was handed out on Monday? I need to collect it today."

* * *

"Right, it should be in my bag... Who's that?" Houki asked as she pointed to the girl behind Jack, she was yelling at him about duelling her.

The boy gave Houki an ignorant smile. "Who are you talking about?" It became obvious that he was ignoring the small girl, even when she began pulling on his uniform.

"Never mind... Anyway, here's the form you wanted." The ponytailed girl handed the boy the form.

"Thanks." He thanked as he quickly checked it over. "Alright, on the pile it goes." Jack commentated as he placed the piece of paper onto a pile on the teacher's podium. The male pilot stretched and let out a yawn. "Hey, can you wake me up when Ichika and Cecilia get here?" he asked as he sat at his desk got ready to take a nap.

"Sure." Houki replied as she took her own seat. Somehow, Jack did actually get to sleep even though the small girl was still accosting him. 'How can he sleep with her yelling at him?' The ponytailed girl remembered that guy in question managed to sleep through a beating from Chifuyu. 'I wonder, why is he able to handle hectic situations so well?' Houki found herself with a few questions about Jack. 'How does he easily treat everyone as if he's known them a while? Why does he never seem to get genuinely angry with anyone? Why does he get lost in thought so often? What is he dreaming about? Why does the last question matter?' Houki then began questioning why she was thinking about Jack in the first place, he didn't really talk to her much and she had someone else she'd rather think about. For some reason though, she occasionally thought about Jack and it aggravated her.

* * *

A white room, that's what Jack was standing in right now. There was nothing in the room, it was just white and devoid of any life except for Jack's. Before he knew it, two familiar looking people appeared in front of him. Both of the guys standing before him were his age, really they were him. One of the two had snow white hair and his right eye was sky blue, the other had jet black hair and a crimson red right eye. The two were wearing the IS academy uniform.

"I see you've finished quite quickly Order, have you checked over everything?" Jack asked.

"Of course, all of the coding is correct. This is a private folder; anything stored here can only be accessed by us. Not that anyone would be trying to hack into files that are stored in your head." Order confirmed.

Chaos smiled confidently. "At least we have somewhere to place the IS data instead of letting it float around Jack's brain." He pointed out.

"He has a point." Jack agreed. "Anyway, moving on. What do we do about the girl that's bothering me in the real world?"

"Duel her." Chaos brought back his point from earlier.

Order agreed with the idea. "I agree, it seems to be the only way to get her to leave you alone."

"Alright, if you two are in agreement on this then there's probably no other way." Jack conceded as he prepared to wake up in the real world, before being forcibly brought back by a punch to the head.

* * *

Jack looked up at the girl standing in front of him. "What was that for Houki?"

"Shut up!" She yelled at him.

Jack let out a long sigh. "If you're gonna get mad enough to hit me, then at least tell me how I made you mad..."

"Hey, stop ignoring me!" The emerald eyed girl yelled.

"Alright, alright. I'll duel you in the class league tournament." The heterochromatic boy whined. "Will that work?"

"That is acceptable." The girl agreed to the terms.

"Thank you, leave." Jack pointed at the door, just as Ichika and Cecilia walked in. "Ah, you two. The forms you got at the start of the week, place them on the pile." The two pilots did as they were told.

Ichika noticed the small girl standing next to Jack. "Rin?"

"That's right. I'm Rin Fan, China's IS representative and the class representative of class 1 - 2." Rin introduced herself.

Jack looked over at Ichika. "Ah, you know her? Where were you five minutes ago? She's been hassling me since she walked through the door."

"I apologise on her behalf." Ichika laughed.

The wine haired teen sighed. "Bit late for that, I now have to duel her in the class league tournament. I hate to think how loud she'll yell if I don't end up facing her."

"Don't say that like I'm not here!" Rin exclaimed, Jack looked down at her.

"Sorry, I forgot you were here." The male pilot apologised mockingly with a mischievous smile on his face.

"Hmph, whatever." Rin huffed as she made her way to the door, once she was in the doorway she turned and pointed at Jack. "You better not lose before you face me!" Jack still had his smile on as he watched a certain teacher walk up behind Rin, proceeding to punch the top of her head. "What did you do that for?!" The small girl yelled as she turned around, flinching once she realised who hit her.

"Consider that your homeroom bell being rung." Chifuyu warned.

"Ch-Chifuyu..." Rin stammered, Jack began laughing at the display.

"That's Ms. Orimura. Now get back to your own class, you're in the way." The teacher scolded.

"I'm sorry ma'am." Rin apologised as Chifuyu walked past her. "Okay, but I'll be back later. So don't you run away Jack."

"Oh, god. It's funny when I'm not the one being abused by Ms. Orimura for a change." Jack spoke to soon as the next thing to happen was the class roster smacking his left cheek. "What'd I do this time?" He whined.

"Get to your seat." Chifuyu ordered.

"Yes, ma'am. Only hitting me when I'm not the only one out of my seat..." Jack began mumbling with tears in his eyes.

* * *

It was lunch time and all the students were now either in the cafeteria or walking around the grounds. Jack was standing on the roof, leaning against the rail.

"Most students would be spending time with their friends right now." Chifuyu pointed out as she stood next to Jack.

The male pilot let out an amused sigh. "I wanted some time to myself, sorry to disappoint you."

"I'm not disappointed, I'm actually surprised. I thought you would be spending time with my brother and your other friends." The teacher admitted.

"I don't think they'll miss me for one lunch break."

"I suppose, did you tell them you'd be here?"

"No, I don't see why that would be necessary." Jack admitted. "Though that question raises one of my own. How did you know I was here, Chifuyu?"

Chifuyu punched Jack on the top of his head. "That's MS. Orimura. And to answer your question, I asked some students."

"Right, of course." Jack sighed.

'You're gonna trust that response?' Chaos asked.

'I have no reason not to at the moment; it's a big school so someone probably did see me.'

"Are you listening?" Chifuyu questioned.

Jack went with the honest approach; he turned around so that his back was leant against the rail. "Nope." This earned him another punch. "You really enjoy hitting me, huh?"

"Keep up this pace and it will become a habit."

"So, what were you saying?" The male student asked.

"I was talking about the class league tournament. You will be representing your whole class, there will be a lot of people expecting a victory from you."The teacher pointed out.

"Are you one of those people?"

"It would be nice if my class won." Chifuyu admitted, she began to head back inside. "Make sure your not late to class."

"Yeah, yeah." Jack waved dismissively; he slid down the rail so that he was sitting with one leg stretched and the other arced. "Should I even be attending class?"

'Are you having second thoughts?' Order asked with concern.

'No, I'm not... but... I don't know. Everyone here has made my days more hectic and I'm enjoying it, I just don't know if this is the right thing to do.'

Chaos butted into the conversation at this point. 'Of course it isn't the right thing to do... that was the point. You came up with this plan; we're here because you want to make a change.'

"But what if I don't need to make a change?!" Jack yelled.

'Then you'll always be below her.' The arrogant sounding A.I. reminded.

"Can I really hope to surpass her anyway? This plan doesn't guarantee that I'll surpass her, maybe I should just leave." The teen mumbled towards the sky.

'So you'll just run away again?' Chaos asked as the bell rung.

Jack stood up and let out a sigh. "Shut up." He ordered as he headed to class.

* * *

 **The day of the class league tournament:**

Jack was looking at the match list. "So I'm against Rin in the first round, just my luck." The teen sighed.

Ichika patted the other male pilot on the shoulder. "Good luck."

"Thanks."

"You can beat her." Houki assured.

Jack smiled. "Yeah."

"Show her how big of a mistake she made by challenging you." Cecilia cheered.

"Sure thing." Jack began walking down the hall to get to the arena hangar.

"Did he seem a bit off to anyone else?" Ichika asked, the two female pilots nodded in agreement.

* * *

'Make sure you give us enough time to collect some decent data.' Chaos commanded.

Jack shrugged. "If I feel like it. Honestly, I just want to get this out of the way."

'Do this however you deem fit Jack. We'll get plenty of opportunities to collect data throughout the year, though the more we collect at once the better.' Order comforted, while also trying to guilt trick Jack. The male pilot activated Icarus and a display of Rin's IS appeared.

"Her IS is called ShenLong, this model is a close combat type." Ms. Yamada informed her student, the display disappeared and Jack got into position to launch.

The usual autonomous voice sounded over the intercom. "Will both contestants use this time to get into position." Jack leant forward and activated Icarus' jets; he launched himself forward and flew into the arena. Once he was in position, the male pilot materialised Icarus' twin bayoneted smg's.

"I'm glad you didn't forfeit." Rin stated.

Jack smiled with fake determination. "Well, my class is expecting a win. I don't wanna disappoint them."

Rin smiled back. "Then no holding back." She declared.

"Fine by me." The heterochromatic teen agreed. "Let's do this!"

Jack and Rin charged at each other, Rin materialised two swords. The twintailed girl swung both swords down at the messy haired male, Jack blocked both attacks with his guns. The wine haired boy pushed the brunette back and launched a flurry of close quarter attacks.

* * *

"What is he doing?!" Cecilia exclaimed as she slammed her hands down on the console.

Chifuyu agreed with the sentiment. "His IS isn't built for close ranged combat, he doesn't have the shield for it."

"What do you mean?" Houki asked.

"His IS' shield maxes out at two hundred, close quarters combat is suicide for him." The teacher explained.

"That idiot!" Houki yelled.

Ichika tried to calm the girl down. "Now, now. I'm sure he has a reason."

"He better, he's acting like a complete savage." Cecilia stated.

* * *

'What is this idiot thinking!?' Rin thought, her opponent was trying to brute force the fight. The brunette broke Jack's attack pattern by counter attacking, she slashed at Jack as he drew his arms back. The IS was knocked back and stayed still. "Are you actually trying to win? You're fighting like a child!" Rin taunted.

* * *

'What are you doing? You idiot!' Chaos yelled.

'I get the feeling that you're not the first to call me that during this fight.' Jack commented.

Chaos was furious. 'Take this seriously! You need to win!'

Jack began to laugh aloud. 'I thought you wanted me to draw the fight out so you could collect data? Which one matters more, winning or the data? Well?'

'Jack, if you have something to then say it.' Order stated.

'Never mind.' The wine haired teen raised his guns and began firing; he remained stationary for the time being.

The ShenLong dodged the attacks and retaliated by firing its shock cannon; the Icarus got shot down and crashed into the ground.

Order decided to step up and make Jack talk. 'Jack, why are you doing this? You're obviously not taking this seriously.'

'Not taking this seriously. Trust me, I am serious. Seriously pissed that you two only focus on collecting data, there's more to being at this academy than just that. You two are A.I. living in a chip inside my head; even if you are smart A.I. you still have to put me first. That was what you were designed to do right? Be my conscience, or did getting split in two mess something up?' Jack ranted.

'We're sorry.' The A.I.'s responded sincerely.

Jack smiled. "That's all I needed to hear." He mumbled, he picked himself up and flew towards Rin. 'My shields are at... One-fourteen, should be enough.'

Jack readied his guns again; he began firing as he picked up his speed. Rin fired more shots from ShenLong's shock cannon; the male pilot dodged the shots while keeping up his assault.

'Just need to get a little closer.' Jack thought.

'Jack! There's something hurtling towards the arena, it'll break through the deflection shield!' Chaos warned.

'It's on course to collide with Rin!' Order added.

Worry quickly took to the teens face. He dodged any shots that Rin fired at him and got as close he could before tackling her out of the way, he was just in time considering something smashed through the deflection shield shortly after.

"What are you doing?!" The emerald eyed teen yelled before realising what had happened.

Jack gave his answer in short breaths. "Protecting... you... your... welcome... haaah." The wine haired teen looked at the crater formed from the impact of... whatever had just come crashing into the arena, the dust that was kicked up made it impossible to make anything out. 'Order, scan the crater. We need to know who or what interrupted the fight.'

'On it.' Order went silent for a short while, the teen could tell the A.I. I had started scanning due to the all too familiar tingling sensation in his left eye. 'Jack, you're not going to believe this. The thing that crashed into the arena... it's an IS... an unmanned IS.'

'What? An IS needs a pilot to run, if it's unmanned then... is it A.I. controlled... or being piloted from a remote location?' Jack began running through the possibilities.

'I don't know, something's blocking us from looking any further. We can only tell that it's unmanned from the lack of any vital signs.' Order explained.

Jack clicked his tongue as he studied the unmanned IS. It hadn't moved at all since it landed. "Why hasn't it...!" The teen mumbled before coming to a realisation. He took note of the direction the IS was facing, it was facing him and Rin. "That's it!"

Rin was startled by the sudden outburst from here opponent. "What is? What's going on?" she questioned.

"That IS is studying us." Jack stated matter-of-factly.

"What do you mean!?"

Jack let out an annoyed sigh. "It hasn't moved since landing and hasn't shown any signs of aggression yet. Ergo, it is studying us." The wine haired teen explained. "The question is why though? Who sent it? And what is their goal?" Jack went quiet as he pondered these questions.

"Don't know, don't care. It interrupted our match and pissed me off." Rin growled as she charged at the unmanned IS.

"Wait you idiot!" Jack yelled, however his objection fell on deaf ears as Rin continued her charge. Jack followed after the emerald eyed teen as the shutters for the stands closed.

The unmanned IS fired a laser at Rin. Jack managed to push the girl out of the way, but not without putting himself in the line of fire. The Icarus was sent flying back.

"Dammit, that laser locked up my controls!" The heterochromatic teen exclaimed just before his IS collided with a wall, he let out a grunt of pain as he fell to the ground.

Jack heard the beep of the earpiece as he looked over Icarus' controls. "Moreau, are you alright?" Chifuyu asked.

"Aww, how sweet. You really do care about me." The male pilot joked.

"You're fine." The teacher sighed. "And what about your IS?"

"The controls are all locked, I can't even lift a finger." The pilot let out an annoyed sigh. "I'm gonna need a minute to reset everything."

"Very well then. What about your shields?"

* * *

There was silence on the other end for a few seconds, Moreau finally replied. "My shields are at fifty... that IS hits **hard**." Before Chifuyu could respond Moreau spoke up again. "I've run the calculations and... I can likely take two more hits from that laser. The second hit would render the Icarus inoperable for one to two weeks though... and I would need medical attention." This additional information caused Ichika, Houki, Cecilia and Ms. Yamada to call out in concern.

"In that case, withdraw at once. The other teachers will be there shortly." Chifuyu ordered.

"No." The male pilot stated clearly.

"Are you going to disobey my orders!?" Chifuyu yelled. "Moreau, I am your teacher and you will do as I tell you." She reminded the stubborn pilot. The monitor showed the Icarus slowly getting back up; there was a confident smile on the pilots face.

"I think you've forgotten which one of us is fighting." Moreau argued as the Icarus got into its fighting stance, its smg's materialising in its hands again. The IS' jets roared into life as it charged at the unmanned IS, the pilot began firing his barrage of bullets.

"Disobeying my orders will have severe repercussions!" Chifuyu informed the foolish IS pilot.

"Fine by me!" Moreau shouted. "Rin! On my signal fire at the IS' left arm!" The male pilot commanded.

Fan seemed apprehensive about taking orders from Moreau, but the movement from her shock cannons showed she would oblige.

* * *

Jack dodged another laser from the unmanned IS as he got closer to it.

'You better know what you're doing Jack.' Chaos warned.

'I always know what I'm doing.' The teen retorted. 'It just never looks like it!' Jack made a final push to get up close to the unmanned IS, he rammed both bayonets into the left shoulder of the IS. "Rin, now!" Jack ordered.

"Alright, but whatever happens to you isn't my fault!" The emerald eyed pilot yelled as she fired a blast from both shock cannons. The blast collided with the Icarus instead of the unmanned IS, but the Icarus' jets increased their power output. The Icarus soon sped past the unmanned IS, the latter's left arm was sent flying away from the main body.

Jack checked his IS' shields... they had decreased to twenty-five. The pilot smiled, his idea had worked... but not without some consequences. The Icarus was becoming unresponsive and Jack was beginning to feel physically tired.

"Damn... we need to finish this... quickly." The Icarus descended slightly. "...Really quickly."

'Jack, I just scanned the Icarus. You have three minutes until it shuts down.' Order informed.

Jack tried to activate the boost in his jets, it didn't work. He span around and began firing at the unmanned IS, only moving to dodge any lasers it fired. The IS seemed to ignore any attacks from Rin.

'Two minutes.' Order reminded.

Before Jack could say anything back, something struck the unmanned IS. Jack followed the trajectory of the shot, that's when he spotted Cecilia and Blue Tears. Yet again, before Jack could react, Ichika and the Byakushiki cleaved the unmanned IS' right arm off.

"Thanks you two." The wine haired teen thanked.

"Anything for a friend." Ichika responded.

"It is only natural that I help my friend, dear." Cecilia responded, making Jack shudder at the use of dear.

The unmanned IS fired its next laser, but this time its target was Ichika. This gave Jack a chance to charge at the IS again, after avoiding the laser Ichika followed suit.

'One minute.' Order warned.

Jack still had a bit more distance to cover before he would reach his foe.

'Thirty seconds.'

Jack drew back his right smg.

'Fifteen seconds.'

'Just a little further.' Jack thought. His body was screaming at him by this point, it wanted to rest. Jack felt his right arm and both legs get heavier.

'Ten seconds.'

Jack forced his right arm forward, the bayonet aimed right at the unmanned IS' head.

'Five.'

The unmanned IS turned around

'Four.'

It began charging its laser.

'Three.'

The Icarus' bayonet was inches from the unmanned IS' head.

'Two.'

The unmanned IS fired its laser.

'One.'

The bayonet pierced through the unmanned IS' head as the Icarus was enveloped by the laser. Everything went black for Jack, but he heard one last thing before losing consciousness.

'Zero... IS unit Icarus terminated.'


End file.
